I don’t know about the rest of Macri’s Knick Nation, but I am very much enjoying these international games. Our Jalen is justifiably getting a lot of love from the media, his coach and his teammates. Most importantly though, his game just continues to improve in many ways that will benefit the Knicks down the line.
I’m also enjoying watching RJ working hard to help his game progress and while he is clearly the second banana to SGA, even that serves the Knicks as on the Knicks, RJ is probably the third banana.
Now the Summer would be complete if the Knicks can sign Quickley to a contract similar to Hart’s. Quick is probably their best pure defender and his three-point shooting and passing continue to improve significantly. I don’t see a franchise altering deal out there that would outweigh the benefits of potentially losing Quickley in a year.
Can we acquire OG by trading Grimes and a couple of picks? That would be ideal although I bet a big percentage of Knick fans would rather substitute RJ for Grimes in this scenario.
And I too would rather swap out RJ for OG before Grimes, but I respect the opinion, and think there's a decent chance I'll look very silly for my stance after this season.
Thanks Jon for that deep dive and recap! I would be interested to see what IQ’s numbers were as a starter versus 2nd unit in those 1647 minutes in terms of on/off. He certainly passes that eye test much more so than RJ (and you know me - I’m an RJ supporter through and through) but I’m searching for his value as a starter. If RJ could hit his 3s at 38% who is more valuable ? Ultimately I want to experience a championship in my lifetime and don’t care how we get there.
The other thing is that it is almost impossible to envision a trade in which IQ is not a big piece. There are iterations in which it could be Grimes instead, but, for example, he would not fit the Raptors as well as IQ.
I am curious when the decision has to be made? An easy answer would be to see what happens at the trade deadline and extend after if he is not traded. But is there a window for extending this season and avoiding the 50 percent trap you mentioned?
By the way, although I think Fournier gets waived if not traded by the deadline, I can see an argument for keeping him on and potentially exercising his option ( but only as ballast for a trade). When would they have to decide to exercise?
I'm not sure exactly when his option date is, but those are all usually around the very end of June, by which point teams generally know if they need the salary in a trade.
I don’t know about the rest of Macri’s Knick Nation, but I am very much enjoying these international games. Our Jalen is justifiably getting a lot of love from the media, his coach and his teammates. Most importantly though, his game just continues to improve in many ways that will benefit the Knicks down the line.
I’m also enjoying watching RJ working hard to help his game progress and while he is clearly the second banana to SGA, even that serves the Knicks as on the Knicks, RJ is probably the third banana.
Now the Summer would be complete if the Knicks can sign Quickley to a contract similar to Hart’s. Quick is probably their best pure defender and his three-point shooting and passing continue to improve significantly. I don’t see a franchise altering deal out there that would outweigh the benefits of potentially losing Quickley in a year.
Can we acquire OG by trading Grimes and a couple of picks? That would be ideal although I bet a big percentage of Knick fans would rather substitute RJ for Grimes in this scenario.
I know I'm very much enjoying the games!
And I too would rather swap out RJ for OG before Grimes, but I respect the opinion, and think there's a decent chance I'll look very silly for my stance after this season.
Thanks Jon for that deep dive and recap! I would be interested to see what IQ’s numbers were as a starter versus 2nd unit in those 1647 minutes in terms of on/off. He certainly passes that eye test much more so than RJ (and you know me - I’m an RJ supporter through and through) but I’m searching for his value as a starter. If RJ could hit his 3s at 38% who is more valuable ? Ultimately I want to experience a championship in my lifetime and don’t care how we get there.
Glad you enjoyed Phillip! I'm including a snapshot of his stats as a starter vs as a bench player in tomorrow's newsletter :)
The question is whether IQ has hit his ceiling or not. I think not, by a wide margin. So for me, extending him is an easy yes.
The other thing is that it is almost impossible to envision a trade in which IQ is not a big piece. There are iterations in which it could be Grimes instead, but, for example, he would not fit the Raptors as well as IQ.
I am curious when the decision has to be made? An easy answer would be to see what happens at the trade deadline and extend after if he is not traded. But is there a window for extending this season and avoiding the 50 percent trap you mentioned?
By the way, although I think Fournier gets waived if not traded by the deadline, I can see an argument for keeping him on and potentially exercising his option ( but only as ballast for a trade). When would they have to decide to exercise?
Knicks have to extend him well before the trade deadline. Deadline is 10/17- start of regular season
Thanks.
I'm not sure exactly when his option date is, but those are all usually around the very end of June, by which point teams generally know if they need the salary in a trade.
Far goneness think that October 17 is the extend or not date.
That'c correct. I was referring to the option date for Fournier